Nor'easter To Bring Plenty Of Rain Through Thursday Morning
BOSTON (CBS) - I heard a rather fitting song on the way in this morning.
Perhaps you're familiar with "Ramble On" by Led Zeppelin?
I think it may summarize how many folks are feeling this Wednesday as they drive through the rain.
"Leaves are falling all around, It's time I was on my way…For now I smell the rain, and with it pain, and it's headed my way…"
For me, this kind of encapsulates the sentiment that I have heard a lot of lately - folks can just sort of sense that the good times associated with summer and fall weather here in New England are just about over. Sure, we may have a few more pleasant stretches, in fact, we may briefly hit 70 degrees next week. However, it is just sort of delaying the inevitable at this point isn't it?
Download: CBS Boston Weather App
Winter is a comin', might as well embrace it.
So why not start the fall farewell party with a bang?
What better way to celebrate the changing of seasons than with a New England Nor'easter!
Don't worry, none of that white stuff is in the forecast just yet, but you don't need snow for a good ol' fashion Nor'easter.
Check: Interactive Radar | Weather Blog | Current Conditions | Share Photos
During the next 24-to-48 hours we are in for a whole lot of rain with a side dish of strong northeast winds to go with it. The good news is that we can actually use the rainfall. While October has been fairly wet, we have been in a mini-drought here since getting soaked on the 4th of July.
Most of southern New England is running between 3-to-5 inches below average rainfall since August 1. We are about to make a serious dent in that deficit.
The rain and drizzle started early Wednesday, if you were one of the unhappy commuters you don't need me to remind you of what a little rain can do to your morning.
WHAT TO EXPECT
For the most part, the rest of the daylight hours will feature more of the same - periods of rain, mainly light, mixed with drizzle.
The heavy rain associated with the nor'easter will be drenching New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. for most of the day Wednesday, causing significant delays in air travel.
After sunset, that heavy rain will start to make significant progress northward and arrive here in New England.
The "meat" of this storm for Boston and areas nearby will be between 8 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday.
During this time frame I expect 1.5-to-3 inches of rain to fall across all of eastern New England. There could be some localized flooding and spots where rainfall totals reach 4 inches or higher.
At the same time, northeast winds will begin to strengthen. Winds will frequently gust 20-to-40 mph through Wednesday night and perhaps up to 50 mph from Boston up through the North Shore and into the coast of New Hampshire and Maine.
With lots of leaves still on the trees, this may cause some downed limbs and isolated power outages. No doubt there will be a LOT of leaves on the ground after this storm, dampening the end of what has been a terrific foliage season.
During the day Thursday, the rain will become more showery in nature and the winds will gradually lessen. I would hesitate to call for improving conditions on Thursday (it will still be pretty miserable), but the brunt of the storm will pass by Thursday afternoon.
We should all notice some significant improvement by Friday, especially later in the day when we may even see some glimpses of sunshine!
And while the weekend won't be perfect, there should be plenty of sunshine to go around, our last full weekend in Daylight Saving Time.
Enjoy it while it lasts!
Follow Terry on Twitter @TerryWBZ
MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON